Not possible to complete Oyster journey in maximum time

[Brucey]

Take the following journey: Hayes & Harlington to Woolwich Arsenal.

Three fares (with railcard): £1.90, £0.95 and £2.70.

The 95p fare is routed "Avoiding Zone 1 via Ealing Broadway, Shepherd's Bush, Willesden Junction and Stratford". Seems fair enough.

But then we look at the timings for this Friday...
Hayes & Harlington 13:10 - 13:19 Ealing Broadway GW
Ealing Broadway 13:24 - 13:38 Shepherd's Bush LU
Shepherd's Bush OSI
Shepherd's Bush 13:44 - 13:51 Willesden Junction LO
Willesden Junction Pink Reader
Willesden Junction 13:56 - 14:39 Stratford LO
Stratford Pink Reader
Stratford 14:49 - 14:55 Canning Town LU
Canning Town 14:57 - 15:10 Woolwich Arsenal DLR

The whole journey takes 120 minutes. Plus I'd allow 5 minutes either end to touch in/out and wait.

Let's see how many zone boundaries we pass...
Z5 - Z4 - Z3 - Z2 - Z3 - Z4

That's 5 boundaries, so we are allowed 110 minutes. That means my bargain basement 95p fare suddenly becomes in excess of £5.

Am I looking at this correctly or have I allowed too much time for the connections (bearing in mind that I'm not Usain Bolt)!!

 

[Simon11]

I've had a quick look, based on this Friday leaving at 13.10

It takes 1hr 20mins via the most direct route.

Looking at your route the 13.10 gets to Arsenal DLR at 15:00

Leaving at 13.26 gets you to Arsenal at 15:10 but includes the bus

However I woldn't really fancy such a journey which involes 5 different different trains just to save a few quid!

 

[MikeWh]

It's close, but definitely dodgy. You are actually using six zones, so you are allowed 120 minutes. The boundaries bit is to explain that if you go from zone 3 to zone 3 via zone 1 it is actually 5 rather than 3 zones. You don't have to touch the pink validator at Willesden Junction and if you could time yourself onto a direct train from Shepherds Bush to Stratford that might save you time.

 

[34D]

It's close, but definitely dodgy. You are actually using six zones, so you are allowed 120 minutes. The boundaries bit is to explain that if you go from zone 3 to zone 3 via zone 1 it is actually 5 rather than 3 zones. You don't have to touch the pink validator at Willesden Junction and if you could time yourself onto a direct train from Shepherds Bush to Stratford that might save you time.

Surely his proposed route avoids z1 completely though?

 

[bb21]

Surely his proposed route avoids z1 completely though?

The number of zones travelled through is what is important, which in this case is six zones: 5, 4, 3, 2, 3, 4.

This should not be confused with the number of boundaries crossed (which incidentally is always one less).

 

[MikeWh]

Surely his proposed route avoids z1 completely though?

Knew I should have stuck to the real example ...

 

[34D]

Knew I should have stuck to the real example ...

Mike, I've been to the pub tonight and had a couple of sherberts, I wasn't aware you weren't sticking to the real example

Sorry though